Reunion
by SarahRad
Summary: Beka and Rosto's reunion that was left out of the end of Bloodhound. OneShot.


My first Tamora Pierce fic, and my first attempt at oneshot. Please review.

Disclaimer: I dont own anything

***

I watched her walk in the door to her welcome home party. She looked exhausted. As she shyly surveyed the room before her, I could tell in those gorgeously haunting eyes that she was glad to be home. _I_ was glad she was home! I could keep track of her here, and not just listen to her goings-on second hand.

I watched her through dinner and waited till she had made her rounds, saying hello to everyone present. I could tell she had deliberately left me for last. Westover must have informed her of my behaviour of late. I wondered how she felt about it. I knew I had no reason to be so upset about her relations with that Dale Rowan character, but how could I not? She barely knew the cove! I have been trying to win over her heart for about a year and a half now, and she hasn't budged an inch. What could Rowan have that I didn't?

As I let myself get caught up in pondering her reasons I never noticed that she had begun to talk to Aniki right next to me. The sound of her laughter brought me back to my senses. How I had missed that sound these past few weeks! Breakfast just hadn't been the same without her smiles and laughter, or even those sarden pigeons!

While thinking about how miserable my past few weeks had been without Beka, she left Aniki and came over to me.

"Hey, Rosto" she said. I could tell she was nervous. What had Westover _told_ her!? All I'd done was parade around with a few doxies. It's not like she was my mot or anything. Oh, how I wish she was my mot!

Hey Beka," I heard myself say. "How are you feeling?" I reached out and brushed my fingertips along a yellowing bruise on her cheekbone. She blushed under my fingers and looked down.

"I'm fine, just tired s'all," she said as she lifted her eyes to mine.

Our eyes locked. There was an odd look in hers as if she was trying to see straight into my mind. It was really unnerving, especially with those eyes of hers. I loved them, but they could really give you the jitters. I stared back, drinking in the sight of the most beautiful mot I had ever seen. I traced every curve of her face with my eyes. All of a sudden she noticed what I was doing. Her eyes widened with surprise and she looked down. She'd never been this shy around me before. It was really odd.

"It's really good to see you, Rosto," she said hurriedly. "But I've got to go say hi to everyone, I'll talk to you later?" and she was gone, already deep in conversation with Kora and Ersken. It was really odd. She was clearly avoiding me. She'd already greeted everybody there. I kept my eyes on her back thinking hard.

There was clearly something wrong, and she was avoiding me because of it. I was willing to bet ten gold nobles that it involved Dale Rowan. I could think of nothing else that would cause so much tension between the two of us. So when I saw her head for the privies I followed her.

I waited in the shadows for her to exit the privy. When she did I caught up to her silently and grabbed her hand.

"What the – oh, Rosto, it's you," she said quickly. I could tell I had startled her.

"We need to talk, Beka," I told her as I lead her over to the wall.

"What's there to talk about, Rosto?" She asked. I could tell she was starting to get defensive.

"Dale Rowan?" I suggested. Even in the dim light I could see her eyes flash at the name.

"What happened between Dale and me is our own business, and none of yours," She said angrily. She tried to walk away but I blocked her with my arm against the wall. When she tried to turn the other way I blocked her again. She was now trapped between my arms.

"Let me go, Rosto," She said.

"And why should I?" I asked. "I haven't seen you in weeks, and now that you're back you're acting all weird around me. All I can assume is that it has something to do with this Dale Rowan you spent your time with in Port Caynn. I've spent month after month trying to please you, Beka, to no avail, but as soon as you meet this other cove, you're all over him. What gives, gixie?" I demanded.

"Well maybe it has something to do with the fact that Dale knows how to treat a mot right." She spat back. What on earth did _that_ mean?! I knew how to treat mots!

"So what did this _Dale_ do that I don't?" I snapped.

"He knows how to properly flirt with a mot, make her feel pretty, all that kind of stuff," She replied. Now she was just being a looby. I flirt with her properly on a regular basis.

"Oh, really? And I suppose you're going to say he was a better kisser too?" I asked sarcastically with a raised eyebrow. From the blush that rose in her cheeks I could see that was exactly what she had been thinking. Now I was angry. I swooped in quickly and grabbed her full lips with my own, kissing her. I could tell she wasn't comfortable with my aggressive kiss, so I softened it a bit, to ease her tension.

Out of nowhere she began to kiss me back! I wrapped one arm around her waist and cupped her cheek with the other hand. She threw her arms around my neck and deepened the kiss. I was in pure ecstasy. I had dreamed of her accepting this for a year and a half!

We stood there kissing like that for quite a while. But when I moved my hand from her face and ran it down the curves of her body she pulled away abruptly.

We stared into each other's eyes for a second before she averted her gaze.

"I'm sorry, Rosto. I – can't. Not right now," and with that she ran back into the building.

Alone, I leaned roughly against the wall. I closed my eyes and sighed.

***

A/N: So I've had lots of positive feedback. Thank you! To answer most of your questions in one fell swoop, no, I will not be continuing this _as a story_. HOWEVER, I will be writing a couple more oneshots that could be viewed as companions to this one, or all on their own, whatever you prefer. Hopefully I'll have them up in 2 weeks or so. I leant out both Terrier AND Bloodhound, and I need my books back for reference materials.

Please review and tell me what you think!

SarahRad


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